787

Sir VrviAN FucHS, scientific director of F.I.D.S., admitted,on seeing the size of the meeting, that " physiology has cometo stay in the Antarctic," but pointed out that up till now ithad naturally received a rather low priority. He stressed thewell-known difficulty of persuading subjects to cooperate inwhat might sometimes be rather unpleasant experiments. Thesuggestion that for better results it would be advisable to havetwo medical men at one station was obviously sound. The

meeting was heartened by his suggestion that a physiologicalstation in the Antarctic might be feasible. Many problems ofcold-climate physiology could be investigated at such a station,which might indeed be as useful in this field as the earlyhigh-altitude expeditions in the Andes were to respirationphysiology.

Sir RAYMOND PRIESTLEY, a veteran of polar exploration,suggested that since his day the psychological problems hadchanged considerably; where there was once complete isolationand real hardship there were now radio and relative comfort;but there was still the problem of living in constant closecontact with one another. There was much to be learnt from

intelligent, discreet observation.The discussion touched on other topics for investigation;

for example, it was felt that the time had come to observe thereaction of women as well as of men to polar conditions, andthat investigation into the adaptation of the local fauna wouldbe of considerable value.

Public Health

Monitoring of Radioactive FalloutIN a memorandum’ summarising Government action on

radioactivity, recently sent to local authorities and to theirmedical officers of health, one of the subjects is the monitoringof fallout. In 1957 the Prime Minister approved revisedarrangements under which the Agricultural Research Councilwas responsible for monitoring soil, herbage, farm animals, andmilk and other foods, and the Medical Research Council formeasurements of radioactivity in human bone. The Atomic

Energy Authority retained responsibility for the analysis ofradioactivity in air and rain water, and the Authority, in con-junction with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government,also measured the activity in selected sources of drinking water.A joint committee of the Agricultural and Medical ResearchCouncils and the Development Commission supervises the

monitoring programme, and has, for that purpose, set up aspecial subcommittee, under the chairmanship of Dr. J. F.Loutit. Countrywide and local surveys now being undertakeninvolve the annual collection of several thousand samples ofmilk, water, green vegetables, potatoes, and flour.

’

In a letter to medical officers of health, Sir John Charles,chief medical officer to the Ministry of Health, says it is largelybecause of the extent of these arrangements that the Ministersconcerned have said that they see little advantage in wide-spread monitoring by local authorities. Sir John continues:

" It has sometimes been argued that, whatever the Governmentmay be doing to watch the national situation, local authorities have aduty to their residents to make sure there is no local hazard. I doubtif this is a truly valid distinction, at any rate in relation to fall-out.Such levels of contamination as there is reason to think exist are toolow to be detected except by complicated apparatus and highlyrefined analysis, and the level in any one sample is in most cases verysmall in comparison with the comparable radioactivity from elementsnaturally present in the sample. The standards by which levels ofradioactivity from fall-out are judged are those which have beenrecommended by national and international research organisationsas acceptable for continuous consumption over a whole lifetime ofseventy years. A level at which it would seem desirable to withdraw a

product from consumption over a short term would be so manythousands of times higher that, so long as the present low averagelevels persist, there can hardly be presumed to exist the possibilityof local contamination of food within the meaning of the Food andDrugs Act, such as might justify local monitoring on this account."

1. Ministry of Housing and Local Government circular no. 57/59.

In England NowA Running Commentary by Peripatetic Correspondents

THE Motor Show drew half a million people, or so I hear.Judging from my terrible experiences there last week this

may be an underestimate; I saw them all, and, as a result,very few motors. Here’s one motorist that won’t help to makethe 1960 show the greatest ever. When I want to look at carsit will be at one of those splendid showrooms round Piccadillywhich always seem completely empty.

But there seems little doubt that the motorcar has come to

stay. My father and mother always had the greatest doubtsabout these new monsters, and as late as the mid-’thirties Irecall that the annual journey of 30 miles to London for theChristmas shopping needed weeks of careful planning. Sand-wiches were cut, maps were studied, and the vehicle was care-fully overhauled by the young man in my father’s hospitalwho was held to " understand " cars. On the appointed daywe ground tremulously away, the young man at the wheel,expecting disaster at every turn. The cantankerousness of ourmachinery justified our forebodings, and we were plagued withpunctures, kicking starting-handles, boilings-over, and the

like, though no crashes of course-we went far too slowly. Therare longer journey undertaken courageously by my olderbrother was the occasion for even more feverish planning, inparticular the preparation of food by my mother-consciouslylest the dread machinery strand them for days on some lonelymoor, but unconsciously doubtless as a propitiatory rite tothe Gods of Motoring.As the youngest son, rebelliousness was inevitable and I

duly drove much too fast and had three fair-sized crashes,once turning the car right over, and thus broke even with aninsurance company that had been doing very nicely out of us.The years have passed and my no-claim bonus is at the sum-mit : I am allegedly the safest of all risks in early middle-agewith a family saloon and children (foolish to say this). As Iwatch my neighbours bumping off themselves and others withmotor-cycles, there is no doubt whatever that my parentswere right: motoring is a fearsome business, and the soonerwe all realise it the better.

* * *

The sudden snap of wintry weather made me put on mynew suit. My others have grown small for me, but this newsuit (of unusual colour and design) gives plenty of room forthose extra articles of clothing which make all the differencebetween starvation and comfort on a cold day.At breakfast my family approved the suit. At the office our

head typist said, " Clothes do make such a difference." The

caretaker said 1 was " perjink ". The health visitor thoughtthat the line was lovely and the pattern not in the least loud.Others took it in at a silent glance. I paid no attention to aremark by the health inspector about Joseph’s coat, as I amsure it had nothing to do with me.

I have always given names to my suits. There was myFinal-year Suit, my Qualifying Suit, my Darlington MemorialSuit (bought in my first house-job): then my Marriage Suit,and my Demob Suit. I still have two Anaesthetic Suits (theones that have grown small) bought with the fees from dentalanxsthetics. My present Sunday suit is known as my PolioJags Suit, as I was able to buy it after doing extra inoculationsessions for another authority. When I met my chief he eyedmy new rig-out and said,

"

Oh, Boy, what a suit! " I told himabout my suit-naming custom, and he at once christened thisone my Tycoon Suit.

" It was the only one in the shop that fittedme," I said defensively, " 44 Portly, is how the assistant theredescribed it."

* * *

It was a pity that it rained in Vienna when our non-peri-patetic colleagues were basking in the warmth of an anomalousEnglish summer. Fortunately no amount of nasty weathercould dim the many facets of this splendid city and even if theDanube flowed grey, the gilt had not been washed off thebaroque. Our party of dermatologists were made very welcome